Cinepals - THE ABYSS (SPECIAL EDITION) Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Achara & Vivian watch "The Abyss," a sci-fi thriller about a team of underwater oil drillers and Navy SEALs who encounter mysterious and potentially hostile alien lifeforms while attempting to recover a lost nuclear submarine deep in the ocean. The special edition expands on the original sci-fi thriller, providing additional scenes that delve deeper into the mysterious underwater encounters and the emotional journeys of the characters as they confront alien life forms and their own personal fears.   Main cast: Ed Harris (Apollo 13 & Westworld), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Scarface & Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), Michael Biehn (The Terminator & Aliens), Leo Burmester (The Last Temptation of Christ & Broadcast News), and Todd Graff (Dominick and Eugene & The Vanishing).   Join our Patreon https://www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay or become a YouTube member for access to full length watchalong reactions! SOCIAL MEDIA: ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals ~ACHARA KIRK~ Twitter & Instagram:  @Acharakirk  YouTube:  @Achara  ~VIVIAN DAY~  Instagram: @DarlingVivling

Senna. Pals. What's up, everyone? Welcome back. It's Achara Kirk and Vivian Day, and we're about to watch the special edition of The Abyss. I think one of the few James Cameron films that I have not seen. Same. So I'm very excited to check this out.

Strap in, you guys. It's a long one. Let's go. Bravo James Cameron As always Brow freaking beau Written by James Cameron It has all the hallmarks of a James Cameron movie

You know what I mean? Absolutely It's a high concept It's got a romance Yep It's got a hero A hero, yeah And like crazy action

It's got like water Lots of water Lots of water And then like a sort of water And then like a alien. Yeah, like an alien and also like a ecological or like humanist message. I feel like these are all the hallmarks of a James Cameron film. Yeah.

Yeah. Tons of research. Yeah. On that too, I do love that he always just has a wonderful, complex female character. Uh-huh. And then the villain, I feel, is always like toxic masculinity in some form or another. Yeah, or like just, yeah, that or that or. the government or the

which is the toxic like we are brutes and like we solve things with violence and muscle and it's like no no don't do that oh music by Alan Silvestri that makes sense too because like the sound design and the music and everything was top notch

I think it really helped to sell what was happening in the water as well and just like the sense of peril and then also the sense of wonder Enjoy, yeah. Which, like, I kept expecting that it was going to just suddenly turn bad, like the other shoe was going to drop and these things were actually going to be evil or whatever, but they weren't, and I love that.

Yeah. I feel he has such a good understanding of that. That happened in Avatar, too, where, like, some of my favorite soundtrack moments is, like, when they see the AWAA spirits and when they're, like, taken out of themselves, but they feel super connected. right at the same time too I think he has a really good understanding of how to make music its own character

and how to that's such an important part of storytelling absolutely the characters are really what's drawing us into the situation because I mean I can imagine that after some time it could get a little bit boring just kind of being in that same space but like this this version of the film that we watched was like nearly three hours long

but I felt like we were engaged the whole way through, you know. It didn't drag at all. No, it didn't. And obviously, I think that having the love story in there was a really great idea as well, because it just kind of helps to hook us in. It raises the stakes a lot more when it's like, not only is he going down there to, you know, save everyone and potentially save humanity as well, but it's like, you know, it's to save

the woman that he loves. And when she's talking to him and everything, it's like, oh, yes, this is. This is why we do what we do for the people that we love. I think I expected it to be more of a horror. I was going to say, I was thinking it was going to be like, have you ever seen the movie The Sphere? No. Okay, so it's kind of like that where it's underwater.

There's an alien something that they have to go and figure out what it is. And that was like one of the scariest movies to me back then. Yeah. Because it was terrifying because they really pushed the narrative of like, you are nothing. which is the same here, but it's like you are nothing and we can just easily blip you out in two seconds. And here, they're like, you are nothing.

We can blip you out, but look, you have so much going on for you too. But we won't because we want to give you the opportunity to do better. My history is a little bit foggy about like the Cold War and all of that and like when it was going on and when it ended. But I think definitely that informed a lot of this, you know. And I feel like the message was very strong about like, guys, we need to stop because we're going to destroy each other. And it's not a matter of like us versus them, like the U.S. versus Russia or anyone else. It's literally like we need to stop for the sake of humanity because we're all humans sharing this earth, you know.

They actually had some footage from the Vietnam War too. Yeah. that whole thing so it's fresh off the heels of that too yeah and it's wild as well because i'm like um listening to the audio book 98 way after yeah this was way after yeah so the sphere came like in 98 but yeah with the images of the vietnam war i was i've just started listening to the audio book of um the body keeps the score and it's just all about trauma and and i'm just hearing a lot about the PTSD of soldiers that were in the vietnam war and just like hearing the atrocities that happened there is just like it's a lot you know we hurt each other

and so badly for for what and we don't learn yeah like every what 20 years we're just like let's do that again yeah see if anything's changed no it hasn't we're still hurting each other you know but like I love that the message is so hopeful I feel like it's feeding into a fear that maybe a lot of us have which is kind of like that claustrophobia of drowning. And the unknown of the waters. Exactly. Like what do we know? We know very little about what actually goes on in the deep, deep sea, you know?

And so it's just like a really interesting take on what could be down there. Like what if it's like benevolent, extraterrestrial, or not UTIs? NTIs. I will never get old. Because I keep thinking of U.S. but then I'm like there's a T-I and I'm like it's a UTI but no one wants a UTI. It's beautiful in all this message of like yeah you know we we should love each other and all of that but like in reality if this actually happened how many of the world's governments would be

freaking out and like oh we need to attack them or like we need to find out what they're about and not in a nice way because yeah it's just interesting seeing the two sides where like um our lead lady lindsay she was like oh i just assume that they're nice you know or that they're curious and then the army guy was like no you know you think it's cute if they think it's cute but it's dangerous it's like you don't know i'm just hoping i wish this would happen to us so that we could like chill and then um i also wish that the aliens are other beings they not uti's would be able to be so advanced that they can just, like, disarm everything. Right?

So that those people can just chill. Shut the up. But, like, we don't know. And I think there is, there probably is value in obviously being prepared for an assault, if that were to happen. But perhaps to not lead with, like, violence or to lead with the idea that, you know, these other beings are out to get us. I think that, like, there's a reason we keep hearing these storylines over and over again

if, like, they're just waiting for us to get smarter and get a clue. Before they come back or before they actually make contact, they've been watching. They're like, that's got to be from somewhere. So, yeah. We'll see. But I appreciate always, and it helps going into it, knowing how much research James Cameron like goes into all of his projects. This is like a lifelong thing for him.

He never stops, it sounds like, in interviews and stuff. He's always researching, always studying the tech, studying the, just every single aspect. He's got his finger deep in it. And I'm always so impressed because you can see it. Well, yeah, because it feels just realistic. And I really love the way that he's able to weave in a lot of the science or a lot of the rules, as it were, right? because, you know, you can't just go down that deep without, you know, feeling the pressure on your body and then allowing your body to adjust.

And you definitely can't just suddenly be pulled back up and be okay. So I'm really glad that they explained all of that. And then at the end, when they do get like suddenly just pulled back up, they're like, oh, they must have done something to us so that it could work. Otherwise, I mean, I'm sure anyone who knows anything about science or how any of this works would be like bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. But I do wonder and I am curious and there must be videos out there on YouTube where people who are like deep sea divers or who know the science behind this

watch this film and like fact check it and go that's realistic, that's not, that's realistic, that's not. Because I'm sure that there must be things that are not entirely factual or like that they took some artistic licensing with because, you know, it's just more interesting. Yeah. That way. And so much has changed since then, too. Right.

That'd be cool if it went the other way where they're like, well, now that is possible. So it wasn't true back then, but now it is true. Right. That would be really cool. And I know we watched the special edition version and the original came out in 89. But watching it now, I don't know if it's different or if it's vastly different from the version that people watch back in 89. But, like, everything looked so good. Yeah.

Like, effects-wise and everything. And then I would imagine that it being James Cameron, they shot a lot of this, like, practically. Practically underwater. Like, you buy it. And I feel for the actors involved. That was, like, those days on set, man. They were probably like, you know,

I'm super grateful to be working with James Cameron, but also I regret my decision. I'm cold. Water bump. Water. mom. It's wet. And like that scene with Ed Harris where he had to go in the suit and he was breathing

that thing, I'm like, how did they do that? Is it like, is it fake watered? Like it, like a double layer and then they just fill it up and his acting is so good that he's able to like do that. But it looked real. A lot of it, you could see in his eyes. Yeah. Like there are bubbles on his eyes and the way his skin was holding it.

He was underwater. So like, that's terrifying. That is terrified. like props to ed props to ed I wonder how many takes they did or if he was like that's a one and done like I'm not

I'm not gonna do that again assuming they all went through like deep like a lot of research and training for this he must have been able to hold his breath for quite some time so still

that's terrifying in like a helmet I think I just I just have such a fear of drowning. Like, you know when you watch movies and then you see a character at the mouth of a cave or something and they're like, well, we got to see what on the other side?

You're like, no. I wouldn't do that. You know, like, how do you know how far it is and how much how much oxygen you need? What if you get like nearly all the way there and then you're like, I'm running out of air? What do you do?

Keep going forward or go back? I can't handle that. I can't handle that stress. I'm right in between. where I'm like, I will follow that person, but I will be like, let's go. We're at the five minute mark. Let's go. Yeah. No further.

It's such a huge fear of mine. And they did such a great job with just showing everything. And you felt like you were there with them and you cared about the characters. You cared about their survival and their peril. And, you know, I feel like now I know a little bit more about. deep sea diving. Yeah. Let's go.

Oh, this is kind of cool. I'll never do it. Let's get our cert. I'll go scuba diving. That's about it. Yeah. I'm not going to, not that shit. I want to do deep sea diving.

No, that's fine. You can do it by yourself. I'm a mermaid. Also a dream, but not like this. It's too scary. Just in a nice tank with some fishies. Yeah, just chill, you know? But this is great.

Like, it took us through an entire. journey and it was such a beautiful movie with a message like well done it tracks it tracks yeah we love james cameron what a legacy what a legend anyway you guys let us know your thoughts in the comments below uh did you watch this when it first came out or have you only seen the special edition um any fun facts i always love to hear those um let us know and we'll see you next time i'm a charic cook. This is Vivian Day. Ciao.